in addition, gary d. schmidt is author of the newberry honor and -- the newbery honor winning the wednesday awards and okay for now, a national book award finalists in 2011, and it gives me great pleasure to introduce gary d. schmidt. ♪ >> good evening. over these last few months i've had the privilege of being the chair of the committee organized to choose national book awards for young peoples literature. in these months we read something over 325 books for young readers ranging from fiction books for the very young reader to paranormal books for the young adult. lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of paranormal books for young adults. [laughter] it was a remarkable journey, and along the way we found books that shook us, that filled us with joy and gladness, that summoned us to courage and to wonder, that use of language in a astounding ways that surprise us of what narrative could do. or to put in the words of saint augustine, we found books that brought beauty into the world of our yo